The Princess Cop
by Duck Life
Summary: Beckett slips into a coma, and both Castle and Josh refuse to leave her side. Meanwhile, Kate spins an interesting and familiar dreamland of dragons, knights, and a princess with a mission. Caskett. Winner of 2011 Castle Fan Award!
1. Once Upon A Time

"_You woke the Dragon." – Gary McAllister, "Knockdown"  
>"It's a fairytale." – Beckett, "Slice of Death"<em>

If he could help it, Castle didn't let Beckett out of his sight from the moment she fell to the ground at the Captain's funeral. He stayed by her side during the ambulance ride, blind to everything and everyone but her, his lips trembling in his panicked mantra of her name. He tried to follow her into surgery, yelling like a crazy person when the doctors held him back.

It was supposed to be over after that. After that hour of sitting and stressing in the waiting room, wondering and remembering and hoping and wishing and- though he wouldn't admit it later- crying, it was supposed to be okay and she would wake up and he'd visit her in the recovery ward.

She didn't wake up. The doctors wheeled her to a room in the ICU.

She still didn't wake up. Kate was stretched out on the hospital cot, hands at her sides, deathly pale and unmoving. Her chest rose and fell erratically, the heart monitor linked up to her spiking and beeping and lying flat for far too long periods of time. Her family- related and otherwise- gathered around her, crowding into the small room. Josh and Jim were there, but they and everyone else seemed to understand that Castle was incapable of releasing her hand, of moving away from the bed, so they let him sit there.

Midnight came, then dawn. A doctor came in at one point to let them know that Kate had had a negative reaction to the anesthetic and had slipped into a coma. He said there was no way of knowing when or if she would wake up. Castle didn't even look up during the terrible announcement, he just kept his eyes fixed on Beckett's blank expression.

Hours passed and her condition didn't change. Castle fell asleep eventually, slumped over her still form, and no one felt like moving him. By late morning the next day, the room had mostly cleared out. Esposito had somehow convinced Lanie to come home with him and get some sleep. By the time a cheery nurse came in the room with a flower in a vase, Castle and Josh were the only ones left, sitting on either side of Kate.

"Should brighten up the place a bit," said the nurse, setting the vase on the windowsill. "Always good to have some greenery in a patient's room." She smiled at the two men, but neither of them returned it. The nurse was about to leave, but she stopped upon seeing the picture of the Royal Wedding taped to the door. "Last patient was a big fan of the big wedding," she said apologetically, ripping the picture off the wall, folding it up and slipping it into her pocket. "She'd talk all day about how lucky Princess Kate was." Smiling, the nurse walked out of the room, leaving the two men alone with Kate's unconscious form.

Interestingly enough, the phrase "Princess Kate" made its way through Kate Beckett's ear canal and slid into her brain, bounced around a few times, and came to rest in a quickly fabricated dream.

* * *

><p>Princess Katherine Beckett stepped onto her balcony in the early morning light, letting the wind sift through her long hair and flatten her night dress against her body. She leaned against the railing of the balcony, being careful to avoid pressing against the sore spot on her abdomen where the Wizard Hemlock's curse had struck her.<p>

It wasn't long before she heard hoof beats, and she looked down to see Sir Castle riding in on his appaloosa, smiling up at her. "Good morrow, Kate!" he called up to her.

"Castle," she said in greeting, waving. He was a good friend of hers, a man she'd knighted a few months back after the first time he'd saved her from Hemlock. He was a brave, if sometimes bothersome, man, and one of the only people who understood her need to track down the Dragon that had killed her mother, the queen.

He was carrying a wooden bucket full of cool, clear water from the well for her, and began hoisting it up the rope and pulley like he did every morning. "Thank-you for the water," said Kate.

"Always," he said.

That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying "Always," what he meant was, "I love you." And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back.


	2. Our Journey Begins

Princess Kate leaned out of the door to her bedroom. The cold hallway was empty, not even the maids and servants of the castle had risen yet in the early morning. Reassured that she was the only one up and wouldn't be missed, Kate slipped back into her room and shut the heavy wooden door as quietly as was possible.

She dressed quickly, switching out her nightgown for a more sensible riding outfit, and splashed some water from the bucket Castle had brought on her face. She combed her hair up into a bun at the nape of her neck, then dropped the comb into a leather messenger bag. She paced around the room silently and quickly, collecting everything she could possibly need for the next few days- spare clothes, paper, a quill and inkwell, the dagger she kept under her pillow, and her tiara- in case she ran into someone with whom she needed to use authority.

"Ready?" called Sir Castle from the ground beneath her balcony. She shifted her messenger bag onto her shoulder and took one last panorama look around her bedroom. She wasn't quite sure why she was being so nostalgic and misty- she was only leaving home for a few days, just long enough to find and slay the Dragon.

But then again, there was the all-too-real possibility of never returning home. And that was precisely the reason why none of her servants or family could know she was leaving. "Ready," she called down to him, dropping a leg over the side of the balcony and tugging on the tied rope to ascertain that it could hold her weight. Satisfied, she clung to it and swung herself over the balcony, propelling herself down the stone wall and into Castle's waiting arms.

"We have to get out of here," she said, walking towards his horse as he reluctantly released her, picturing a maid storming into her room at that moment only to find her gone, rope fluttering out the window. Kate mounted Serenity- Castle's horse- and readjusted her bag before looking over her shoulder to see that he was still shocked that she'd been strong enough to climb down the wall. "Are you comin' or what?"

* * *

><p>The village soon turned into country, and the country to woods, each transition accompanied by the sound of hoof beats and nothing else. There would be no arguing with the princess. Richard had tried once before to persuade her from chasing this wicked dragon, and he would never again. He understood the drive now, and knew that nothing he could do or say would stop her, even now as the curse ate at her from the inside out.<p>

They went for awhile without speaking, until it became clear that someone was following them. Halfway through the woods, the sound of another horse galloping close behind them alerted them of a fellow traveler. Castle and Kate went a ways farther without saying anything, just in case it was a coincidence, but soon the two of them realized that they were definitely being followed.

"Should we stop?" asked Castle.

"Are you kidding?" she replied, spurring on the horse. "Anyone following me either wants to kill me or take me back to the castle." So they sped on through the forest until their pursuer managed to outpace them and cut them off up ahead at a fork in the path and they could see who it was. "Joshua," sighed Kate.

"Who's he?" said Sir Castle, confused that she recognized the man on the white horse in front of them.

"He's, ah… he's betrothed to me," she muttered, not sounding at all happy about the fact. Castle's mouth narrowed into a thin line, but he said nothing as Joshua dismounted and made his way over to them.

"Unhand her," demanded Joshua, unsheathing his sword and angling it up at the knight on the horse. Serenity whinnied, unsettled by the sudden appearance of the weapon.

"Hey," said Castle, alarmed and trying to calm his horse, "what's with the sword? I'm all for talking this out-"

"You thought you could kidnap a member of the royal family- the woman I love- and get away with it?" said Joshua fiercely, eyes burning towards the point of his sword as it came dangerously closer to Castle.

"I never kid-" Kate elbowed him in the ribs "- I did. I kidnapped her, and there's nothing you can do about it!" She had neither the time nor the want to argue with Joshua about leaving the safety of her kingdom by her own accord.

"I'll spear your head on the tip of my sword," he threatened.

"That's not slang for 'talking it out', by any chance?" said Castle, leaning down slightly to whisper to Kate.

"It's really not," she said.

"Look, Stallion Boy-"

"It's Dr. Joshua Davidson," he practically snarled, sword still held out steady.

"Dr. Stallion Boy," Castle corrected, "why don't you try asking the princess what she wants?" Kate had shrunk behind Serenity's mane when Joshua had pulled out his sword, now she leaned out from her shelter to look the doctor in the face, curious to see his resolve.

"Very well," said Joshua, the sword unwavering, "Princess, what do you want?"

"I want…" she told him, pausing as she realized the quantity of all the things she wanted. She wanted her mother. She wanted to slay the Dragon. She wanted to get out of Joshua's sight. "I want to go to the North Yebecian Protective Dragon-fighters' headquarters." It was a group she'd secretly joined a few years ago, made up of people who worked to stop what had happened to her mother from happening to other people. Joshua was taken aback- clearly this was the last thing he'd expected out of her mouth.

"That's over a day's journey," he said as he carefully placed his sword back in its sheath. "I'm coming with you."

"I didn't think I'd be able to stop you," she sighed under her breath. Then, as she noticed the way he was glaring at Castle, she added, "No swords. I trust this man." Reluctantly, Joshua backed away from Serenity and remounted his own steed. As he guided his horse back to slightly behind Serenity, Castle jerked on the reins and started them moving again. His arms wrapped around Kate in order to reach the reigns, and she could tell that Joshua didn't like it. Dreading the next few hours, Kate shut her eyes and tried to take a nap leaning against Castle.

As soon as he was sure that Princess Kate must be asleep, Joshua turned to Sir Castle, the mysterious man who Kate seemed so close to, and said, "Who are you?"

* * *

><p>"I'm her partner," said Castle, answering Josh's question that had seemingly popped out of the blue amidst the silence of Beckett's hospital room. He remembered the confusion earlier, how neither of them had been able to define exactly what they were to each other. He tried not to wince, hearing once again in his mind the hurtful words as she told him their partnership was over.<p>

"Yeah, that's what she calls you," sighed Josh, running his thumb over Kate's hand. "You know, I… I guess it's petty now, but I always thought she was kidding herself." Castle raised a questioning eyebrow. "I mean, she cares about you more than she would a partner. You're like… like…" He trailed off into silence, whatever had propelled him to actually say those words had stopped short.

"I just want her back," said Castle, pain leaking into his voice, willing her to open her eyes. "God, I just want her to wake up."

"So do I," said Josh. They lapsed into silence again, unable to tear their gazes away from Kate.


	3. North Yebecian Protective Dragonfighters

Ryan leaned against the counter of the nurses' station outside Kate's hospital room. He'd come to visit her, but after seeing how intent Josh and Castle both were on staying by her side, he felt bad about relieving them of their diligently held posts. He watched his sleeping friend from afar, wishing she would get better and trying not to worry.

An arm brushed against his, and he turned to see a college-age girl leaning against the counter beside him. "Sorry," she said quickly, a recently chewed lock of hair dropping out of her mouth.

"You okay?" he asked, then realized what a dumb question it was. Okay people didn't come to hospitals, visitors or otherwise.

"My uncle's second OD this month," she explained with a wave of her hand as if she didn't really care. "Who are you here for?"

"Her." She followed his gaze to see Beckett, still as ever.

"She your girlfriend or something?" asked the girl. Ryan couldn't keep a laugh from escaping his mouth- the idea was just so absurd.

"No, no," he said. "She's sort of my boss, sort of my sister." He tried to explain, but it was difficult to describe a family like theirs to an outsider. "One of those things."

She smiled, seeming to understand. "That's nice." She looked back at Beckett's room, where Josh and Castle sat hunched over Beckett while she dreamed. "So who are they?"

"Well, the one on the left," said Ryan, pointing but trying not to be ostentatious about it, "is her boyfriend. The other one is in love with her."

"Ooh, drama," said the girl. "I like it, it's like _General Hospital_." Ryan nodded and braced himself against the counter. He was willing to put up with any familial drama, any Mom-and-Dad-are-fighting, if only she'd wake up.

* * *

><p>Serenity cantered to a stop in front of a moss-covered stone tavern at the edge of a large clearing. A faded wooden sign on the door declared it the headquarters for the North Yebecian Protective Dragon-fighters. Joshua's horse whinnied as he yanked it to a slow trot until he stopped it beside Kate and Sir Castle. "So this is it?" said Joshua.<p>

"This is the place," replied Princess Kate, sliding off Serenity. Castle did the same, then proceeded to tie his horse to a post beside the building. Without looking back at the men who had escorted her here, she flounced into the building without worrying about knocking for permission. This was her turf.

"Princess," greeted a man across the room as she entered, bowing low. He was clad in usual dragon-slaying gear, thick leather armor and a long sword at his side.

"No need to bow, Esposito," she reminded him. "I'm not a princess here. No crown, no royalty." She didn't like her fellow dragon-fighters to treat her any differently, which was why she tended to not give out her full name to her colleagues. Of course, Esposito, her closest guild member, had figured it out.

"Sorry," he said, grinning as he straightened up. "Habit." She shrugged it off and waved half-heartedly at the others scattered around the spacious area as she made her way across it to Esposito, Joshua and Castle filing in after her. "Evening, Castle." He nodded to Esposito in greeting, busy looking around the room. Kate had never let him come with her to this central building before. Esposito made no motion to greet Joshua, whom he'd never met, so the doctor went to stand behind the princess silently.

"Is Elania downstairs?" asked Kate, looking towards the opening in the floor in the corner of the room that led to the morgue.

"Yes," said Esposito. His voice dropped to a lower tone, and the light air around both of them dissipated as they were reminded that this was not a social visit.

"Esposito, could you get Castle and Joshua some cider while I go and talk to Elania?" she said. Based on the letter she'd been sent, she would want to see the body without them first.

"Of course, Prin- er, Kate," he said, busying himself with the jug and goblets kept on the table behind him. She waited for Castle and Joshua to either try to follow her or converge on the beverage. When they did the latter, she spun around and began climbing down the ladder to the morgue.

There was a corpse stretched out on Elania's stone table, her tool-laden slab beside it. "Hello," said Kate to the woman behind the table, an apothecarist in a drab yellow dress with the sleeves pushed back.

"Kate," said Elania with a sympathetic smile. "You got my falcon?"

"Yes," she said, a lump in her throat. The question was more a formality than a necessity- obviously she'd gotten the falcon message or she wouldn't have come. "And you're certain?"

"I'm certain," said Elania, pulling back the linen covering the dead body to reveal deep gashes across his chest. "These slashes were created by the same talons that killed your mother." Kate closed her eyes, trying to take everything in without overreacting. It was a fresh lead on the dragon that had taken away the queen, her mother.

"Where was he found?" asked the princess.

"Up north," replied Elania. "In Hattania." It was a craggy region full of cliffs. And dragons. Travelers tended to avoid it at all costs, but evidently this man hadn't. This was the place where her mother's killer resided.

"I'm going." She patted a hand to her messenger bag against the outline of the dagger, and it reassured her.

"Kate," said Elania, knowing from experience that she couldn't stop her. "Please be careful."

"I'll be as careful as I can be," she promised, "but I won't let that stop me from avenging her." Elania nodded, willing herself to stay strong for her best friend. Kate was walking into a suicidal quest, and she wasn't looking back. When Elania bid her goodbye, she prayed to God that it wouldn't be the last time.

As Kate ascended the ladder, each rung beeped with her step.

* * *

><p>"What's that beeping sound?" asked Castle as it broke his reverie.<p>

"Pager," replied Josh, pointing to the pinging device he held in his hand. He hit a button to silence it. "Maureen!" he called, beckoning towards the door. A thin nurse in pink scrubs leaned in the door. "Could you tell Dr. Simmons that I'm not working at the moment due to a… personal emergency?" She nodded.

"Of course, Dr. Davidson," said the nurse, and then she was gone.

Castle thought about the word "personal" and wondered what he would say to Gina if she called and told him he had to get to a book signing or something. He wasn't sure, but he was pretty certain that there would be a generous amount of profanity in his response.


	4. Crew

**A/N: "You had a gorram time bomb living with us!" is a quote from the movie **_**Serenity. Serenity**_** is a sci-fi movie starring Nathan Fillion (Castle). The two characters Mal and Inara have a complicated back-and-forth, will-they-won't-they sort-of romance.**

Princess Kate, unable to persuade Joshua to go home, soon found herself back on Serenity, riding through the forest with him, Castle, and Esposito. When she told the three of her plan to travel to Hattania, Castle insisted that they take his boat, which was anchored further up the river, less than an hour's trip away. As they rode on in companionable silence, the forest grew mistier and mistier, until they couldn't even see the path in front of them.

"Look," said Sir Castle, pointing up at something stretched all the way across the sky. "It's a double rainbow!" The others looked up and, sure enough, there were two separate rainbow lined up beside each other, shining through a hole in the canopy of leaves.

"We should really get out of here," said Esposito, urging his horse to go faster. "A double rainbow means twice the leprechauns." Joshua gave him an odd look.

"You fight dragons for a living, and you're afraid of leprechauns?" he asked. Esposito glowered at him.

"Leprechauns aren't fun, trust me," he said. "They steal your gold and they lead you into traps and they try to cripple horses." The words were barely out of his mouth when Joshua's horse buckled beneath him. He shrieked and looked down, but whatever had injured his horse was hidden by the mist. He jumped off the whimpering horse and unsheathed his sword, swinging it through the air in front of him.

"Sword!" squeaked an Irish-accented voice from somewhere below waist level.

"Would you quit whipping that thing out every time you don't know what's going on?" demanded Castle as he and Kate turned around to watch Joshua wave his sword around in the fog.

"But he said that leprechauns were dangerous!" said Joshua. "They… they steal your gold and lead you into traps and all that stuff." He looked up at Esposito. "Tell them." Esposito nodded slowly, then lost his battle to keep a straight face and started to laugh.

"Nice," said Castle as he and Esposito did a "Feed the Birds".

"Come on out O'Ryan," said Esposito. An extremely short man in a green vest and hat rode in on a squat mule, floating just above the mist. "Thanks for playing along."

"O' course," he said, tipping his hat.

"You're friends with the leprechaun?" asked Joshua, baffled.

"He's my Dragon-fighting partner," shrugged Esposito as everyone but Joshua started forward again on the trail. "And he knows Hattania better than anyone else, so he's coming with us."

"I'm also lucky," O'Ryan called back as they began to leave Joshua.

"Wait!" he called, sheathing his sword and hopping back up on his now-recovered horse. He galloped to catch up with them, and then their assorted group of travelers continued on towards Castle's boat.

* * *

><p>Sir Castle's ship was both extravagant and stalwart, the kind of boat that earned some prestige just for its look in the harbor, but that could also battle fierce rapids and get you to where you were going. The kind of boat that only someone with Castle's money would be able to own. A vessel like his would stay with you until the day you died.<p>

"Everyone aboard," said Castle in a singsong voice, swinging off of Serenity and helping Kate down. They loaded the horses and O'Ryan's mule on first, and then their motley collection filed on after. "And keep a sheath on that sword," he added to Joshua. He chuckled at his rhyme, but stopped when he caught the princess glaring at him.

"We go that way up the river," instructed O'Ryan, pointing north.

"Then… this boat will deliver," said Castle, adjusting one of the sails.

"Alright, no more rhyming," ordered Kate. "I mean it."

* * *

><p>"<em>Serenity <em>Scene It?"

"What?" said Josh, blinking away sleep as he looked up to see Castle holding a square game box with Summer Glau and Nathan Fillion's faces on it. Maybe it was the sleep-deprivation and worry, but Josh could have sworn that he'd just pulled it out from behind his back like a cartoon character.

"Do you want to play _Serenity _Scene It?" clarified Castle.

"What is that?" asked Josh.

"It's like regular Scene It," Castle explained. "Only with the best science fiction movie ever made." In response to Josh's questioning look, he said, "Oh, my daughter Alexis dropped off a bag of games, movies, changes of clothes, etcetera."

"Ah," said Josh. "I've never actually _seen_ this movie."

"You haven't?" said Castle. "Oh, we should watch it. It's so good." He began rummaging around in his bag. "Beckett _loves_ it, even if she'll never admit it." He extracted a DVD case from the bottom of the bag. "Found it." Castle moved away from Kate- reluctantly- and slipped the disk into a compact DVD player beneath the television.

"Am I going to enjoy this?" asked Josh as the movie started up.

"Only if you enjoy _awesomeness_."

* * *

><p>Castle's boat was making its way up the river in a steady, smooth motion, the strong bow slicing through the dark water. Sir Castle adjusted the wheel and then, hearing a ticking noise, snatched at the saddlebags on O'Ryan's mule and pulled out a bomb.<p>

"You had a gorram time bomb living with us!" accused Castle, throwing it as far off the boat as he could. It flew downriver clunked a laundering man named Tom on the head, who then slumped into the river and died.

"Sorry, forgot that was in there," said O'Ryan back on the boat.

"Don't let it happen again," said Sir Castle sternly, returning to the wheel.

* * *

><p>"<em>Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down,<em>" Captain Malwas saying on the TV._ "Tells you she's hurtin' before she keels."_ Castle smiled, as always, loving the line.

"That was good," said Josh when the movie ended. He leaned back, keeping a hand on the hospital bed, a constant connection to Kate. He wondered if the movie had reached her- if anything they had said reached her.

"Oh, yeah, one of my favorites," agreed Castle. He too kept a hand on the hospital cot, and made no move to pull it back.

"Except I didn't really care for the whole Mal and Inara thing," said Josh, referring to the two characters who seemed to be both the best and worst people for each other. "I mean, obviously Mal can never be with her, so the fact that he can't just give it up ends up just being annoying."

"Well, that's Mal," said Castle. "Never gives up, even if it's good for him. Even when not letting go tortures him, when the sheer pain of loving a woman he knows he can never be with is enough to shape his character, to alter every decision he makes."

"Annoying," repeated Josh, breaking a long silence. Castle glanced at him, then at Beckett, and unexpectedly began to regret popping the movie in at all.


	5. Into the Woods

**A/N: I'm developing a ficmix for this story. I'm adding songs as I write and find them, feel free to review with a song you think would fit.**

**http: / / www. playlist. Com / playlist / 22008360715 (without spaces)**

The forest just outside Hattania was thick and full of shadows. The occasional rustling in the brush was just as likely a harmless bird as a murderous ogre. It put everyone on edge, especially Sir Castle and Joshua- they weren't as used to this as the others in their party were, with all their Dragon-fighting experience.

At one point, there came a louder tromping very near them that not even Esposito could ignore. "What was that?" said Castle, nervous.

"Relax," said Princess Kate. "It's probably just-" A man dressed in red and yellow stumbled onto the path in front of them with a jingle of bells. "A drunk jester," she finished. The jester swayed, and collapsed to the ground looking miserable. They stood at a silent impasse.

"Can we just step over him?" whispered O'Ryan after a moment. Kate sighed and dismounted Serenity, weaving through the ferns at the edge of the path towards the man on the ground. She didn't look up as Castle hopped down to follow her.

"Excuse me?" said Kate, leaning down. "Are you okay?"

"You called me drunk," he said. "I'm not drunk, I'm _sad_."

"So…" said Castle, "_not_ okay."

"Seven years I entertained people in that castle, and king just kicked me out like… like I wasn't the kind of person you don't kick out," said the jester.

"I didn't ask," shrugged Kate, offering a hand to help him up. He didn't take it. "Look, I'm trying to get to Hattania, it'd be nice if you could get up."

"Name's Random," he said, seemingly oblivious to what she was saying. "Given name, didn't even change it. It's like I was _born_ to be a jester, and they just throw me away."

"Alright…" said Kate, uncertain as to how she should proceed. Obviously, he didn't want their help. "Well, I'm going to go… you should try not to get eaten." He made no sign that he heard her. She looked at Castle and shrugged, then they both got back at Serenity and went around Random, continuing their journey.

The disgruntled comedian wasn't the only encounter they came across in the woods. They also met a red-headed sprite named Lex, a female Genie that Sir Castle had been married to once upon a time, and a glamorous sorceress called Margaret. The most troublesome to run into, however, was the troll guarding the drawbridge that spanned the chasm between the forest and the cliffs of Hattania.

His name was Mutter, and while he didn't seem too intimidating or even malevolent, he was bitter, annoying, and altogether grumpy. He would not let down the bridge for them, no matter how much they asked.

Kate sighed and started digging in her bag until she found her tiara, and shoved it onto her head. "Lower the bridge," she commanded. "By order of the Beckett royal family." Mutter glared at her for a second and then, grumbling, lowered the bridge. "Alright, let's go," said Kate. She, Joshua, Sir Castle, Esposito, and O'Ryan crossed the bridge and entered the land of the dragons, and the home of the monster that had killed Queen Johanna.

* * *

><p>Beckett twitched in her sleep. Castle and Josh leaned forward in almost synchronization, hands flying outward as if they could help her. Her eyelids jerked, and then she settled down again. After a minute, the two men returned to their seats.<p>

"Probably dreaming," said Josh.

"That's good, right?" said Castle. "Dreaming means mental activity… means…" He didn't want to finish his sentence.

"Yeah," said Josh, but he didn't sound convinced. With a sigh, he ran his hands over his face and through his hair, like he was trying to peel away this awful situation. "I hate being a doctor," he said. Castle stared at him, surprised. "I hate that I know and understand exactly what's going on, that I'm _in the know_. I know that 10 percent of coma patients never wake up, I know that her nervous system isn't responding to stimuli, I know that if it doesn't get better she'll need assisted breathing…" He clenched his fists, unclenched them.

Castle was shocked. All this time he'd been wishing to understand exactly what was going on, but now he realized that Josh's medical schooling might be more a curse than a blessing, at least when it came to sitting by Kate's bedside. Castle said nothing- he really didn't know what to say.

"I want ignorance," admitted Josh. "I want the sugarcoating, and I want to believe it. I want to believe that everything will get better instead of _knowing_… that it won't."

"Faith," answered Castle. "The facts don't matter if you have faith."

Josh glanced up at him, a bitter smile on his lips. "I'm an atheist."

"I didn't mean faith in God," said Castle. "Not necessarily. Just faith. It's like in that movie we watched- '_I don't care what you believe, just believe_,'" he quoted. He looked down at Kate. She was pale and still, and yet, there was still something in her expression, some kind of air of defiance, of strength. An essence that she carried even in a coma. "Believe in her."

"I do," said Josh. "I believe in her. I just hope that it's enough."


	6. Battle

Princess Kate and the others wove their way through the rocky cliffs, taking cover behind the occasional random tree or sparse bit of brush. The air was flavored with a hint of salt, and they could hear waves crashing against the cliffs in the distance.

They walked a while through Hattania before they saw their first dragon. It was Joshua who spotted it- a gleaming yellow creature with glittering wings soaring through the sky above them. Sir Castle seemed a little worried after actually seeing one, but Kate waved it off, telling him that most dragons were docile enough and only killed cows for food.

There were some, though, that weren't quite as safe. The travelers at one point came across a deep valley, in the middle of which sat a circle of midnight black dragons, roasting something over a fire. Esposito's hand fisted in his horse's mane and he suggested that they move on soon. The fumes coming off of the fire pit didn't smell like an animal.

"How can you be sure that one of those wasn't your Dragon?" asked Sir Castle as they rode around the rim of the valley.

"Because he's a loner," said Kate. "Lives up in a cave on the highest point of a cliff. Only comes down to…" She paused, took a breath, and ran her fingers through her hair. "To do what he did to my mom."

"Let's go," said Esposito, and they wound their way up the next cliff.

It was slow going, because they needed to walk in single file and kept stopping whenever a bit of rock crumbled and fell into the chasm beneath them- which was often. Finally, though, they reached the top. Kate dismounted and pulled out her dagger, followed by the rest with their swords. Castle tied Serenity to an outcropping of stone, as did Joshua and Esposito with their horses. O'Ryan looped the reins on his mule over the rock.

Kate leaned against the corner of the opening to the vast cave, dagger out, and peered around the corner. There was the monstrous red dragon, sitting in the middle of the cave. He was facing away from the cave opening. The princess turned, nodded thrice to her comrades, and then they went in.

* * *

><p>A doctor all scrubbed up for surgery- scrubs, mask, blue latex gloves- stepped into Beckett's hospital room and began wheeling her away. "Wait, what are you doing?" asked Castle, standing up.<p>

"Detective Beckett is being taken away for an MRI," said the doctor, continuing to roll her out the door. Castle nodded and sat back down, still a bit shaken- maybe it was just because in the past thirty-six hours he'd rarely spoken to anyone but Josh.

"I guess they want to check her brain activity," shrugged Josh, but something was bothering him. Maybe it was just the fact that the doctor had been prepared for surgery- but he knew, sometimes a doctor ready to perform surgery was taken away at the last minute for another task. And yet…

"What's wrong?" asked Castle, sensing Josh's dismay.

"I don't know," he said. His expression was distant. "Hands of blue…" His eyes came to meet Castle's. "The man who took her away was wearing blue gloves, only last month everyone at the hospital had to switch to hypoallergenic _white _gloves."

Castle was already up and running out of the room, calling her name. Josh followed. "Kate!" yelled Castle. They could just see the wheels of her cot turning the corner, down into the hallway that led to the surgical ward. "Kate!" The two of them sprinted down the slick linoleum, sliding a bit- evidently, the janitor had just recently mopped.

"Excuse me," said a frantic nurse, coming around the counter to stop them.

"There's an intruder headed to the surgical ward," Josh ran off quickly. "Call security." Castle zipped around the corner, the water on the floor sending him zooming forward. If he hadn't been so worried, he would have thought it was awesome. "Somebody stop that surgeon!" yelled Josh, racing with Castle into the surgery wing. They were just in time to see Kate disappear into one of the rooms. Castle caught the door and followed them in.

There was the surgeon, positioned with a sharp scalpel right above her chest.

* * *

><p>Sir Castle rammed into Princess Kate, knocking her out of the way of the Dragon's snout. The Dragon leaned forward, sniffing at him, baring his fangs. Castle's sword came around and caught him on the side of its nose. Black blood spattered the floor of the cave.<p>

* * *

><p>"Josh, get her out of here!" yelled Castle, holding the man with the scalpel against the wall. The man spun around and out of Castle's hold, wielding the scalpel dangerously. Castle backed up and grabbed the first thing that fell into his hand- a long suture needle. He deflected a swing of the scalpel with it and jumped out of the man's reach as he heard the door swing shut- Josh had gotten away with Kate.<p>

* * *

><p>The Dragon slashed out at Castle with his talons, but he had jumped away at the last minute. Out of nowhere, Josh stabbed it through the eye with his sword, half-blinding the beast. Furious, the Dragon's jaws snapped, too near to Kate. She jabbed its nose. More dark blood.<p>

Esposito and O'Ryan came from behind, plunging into its chest from opposite sides. It was still alive, though, and it was coming after Sir Castle.

* * *

><p>The man held the scalpel to Castle's neck, his eyes burning with a sickening glee. "You're not even going to put me under anesthetic first?" he grunted, trying to maneuver his needle into a position in which he could strike at his captor.<p>

"This should feel just like a little pinch," said the man in an evil impression of a pediatrician with a syringe. He brought the scalpel down- but Castle wasn't there anymore. He ducked under the man's arm and pivoted, switching their positions so that Castle was the one holding the man against the wall.

"You'll never touch her," he said. A bullet smacked into the man's leg just then, downing him, and Castle turned around to see three security guards in the doorway, guns out. "Took you long enough," he sighed, exhausted. The needle dropped out of his hand and hit the floor.


	7. Happily Ever After

One rather frantic and hysterical hour later, Castle and Josh were back upstairs with Kate, surrounded by a team of hospital security on orders to guard the detective at all hours and triple-check IDs of any staff or visitor inclined to enter the room. Beckett slept on, oblivious to all the excitement. "Who _was _that?" Josh asked, now that everything had finally settled down.

"He didn't say much after they took him into custody," sighed Castle. "Much as I can figure, he was hired by the man behind Kate's mother's murder." Josh closed his eyes, as if he were letting it all sink in. He'd known about Johanna, but until the shooting he'd had no idea of how dedicated Kate really was to solving the murder.

"How did they know she survived getting shot?" asked Josh, thinking of spies and betrayal.

"It's been all over the news," said Castle, squashing Josh's theories. "'Castle's Heat Inspiration Shot At Funeral,' 'Nikki Heat In Critical Condition.'" Castle said it with a bitter tone, gripping the sheets on Kate's bed in anger. "It's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself."

"Why not?" asked Castle, bleak.

"You saved her life," said Josh simply. He was right, and not just about the scalpel madman. It was rare that Kate Beckett needed saving, but when she did, Castle was there. Always.

* * *

><p>Princess Kate stood back in her balcony, letting the wind sift its cool fingers through her hair. Days had passed since she had returned to the castle after watching the Dragon fly off into the night. She was clean, caught up on sleep, and out of her worn riding outfit and into a fresh dress.<p>

Hoof beats below her alerted her to Serenity's presence, and to Castle's. "Good morrow, Kate," he called up. She tossed one end of the rope ladder she'd brought with her from the NYPD headquarters over the edge of the balcony. The other end was at her feet, weighted down with a few heavy flagstones.

"Come on up, Castle," she said. After tying up Serenity, he did. "Thank-you," she said when he got to the top, helping him over, "for saving me." She felt like getting over the formalities first. "I am in your debt."

He watched her carefully for a moment, as if he were gauging her reaction to something, or wondering if she looked healthy enough. "No, you're not," he said finally. "I didn't save you so you'd owe me, I saved you because…" He paused, then, with determination- "I love you."

"I know," she said. When he kissed her, she felt warmth on her side and knew that Hemlock's curse had melted away. That was always it, wasn't it- true love's kiss. It was true love's kiss that broke the spell, that woke the sleeping princess.

Only… she wasn't sleeping. Some kind of shock zinged through the princess's brain- why would she think she was sleeping? Unless… she was.

* * *

><p>Kate's eyes flickered open to see Castle, leaning over and watching her worriedly. "-waking up, she just moved," he was saying to someone across from her. It was a lot to take, coming face to face with reality after realizing that what you thought was reality wasn't really reality.<p>

The first coherent thought she had after waking was that she probably should have paid closer attention during the movie _Inception_. The second was that the _real_ Castle was sitting right next to her and she was relieved to see him.

"Castle," said Kate.

"Kate," said Castle, thus beginning a series of awkward lying-down hugs and name repetitions and What-happeneds on her part and I'm-so-glad-that-you're-okays on his part. Josh may as well have not been in the room. A doctor, after being checked by security, rushed into the room and began ascertaining that Kate was alright."Welcome home," breathed Castle when they had both calmed down.

Kate glanced around the room, noticing Josh with some surprise and guilt, and also noticing that it was a hospital room. "This isn't home," she corrected him.

"Well, I kind of meant consciousness in general," he said, laughing a bit until he remembered that her boyfriend was sitting across from him. "Here, I'll leave you two alone," he said quickly, standing up. Much as he hated leaving her side now that she was awake, he knew that it was important he respect the boyfriend's rights. A, it was what a grown-up would do. B, it might gain him some points in Kate's eyes.

Castle had just finished calling Jim, then Lanie- she'd tell the others, he knew- when Josh came into the hall. "She's asking for you," he said, jerking a thumb towards Kate's hospital room. Castle gulped uneasily, picturing years stretching in front of him of sharing the woman he loved with Josh like this- taking her spare time in shifts.

"Yeah, okay," he said, walking into her room. There was no trouble with the security guards stopping either Castle or Josh. With all the time they had spent by Kate's bedside, the two of them were practically on a first name basis with each of the guards.

"Hey," said Kate. She was sitting up, stuffing herself with the hospital's vanilla pudding. Two empty containers already sat on the tray above the cot. Her color seemed to be returning, and Castle felt reassured by that.

"Hey," he returned, taking his seat beside her.

"So can you tell me exactly what happened?" she asked. "Because I think Josh is sugarcoating." Castle remembered what Josh had said about sugarcoating and didn't much blame him.

"You were in the middle of Montgomery's eulogy and a sniper in the cemetery shot you," he said, a lump rising in his throat as he repeated the story. "The doctors got the bullet out, but you had a negative reaction to the anesthetic and slipped into a coma." She nodded slowly, taking the news with characteristic ease.

"How long?" she asked him.

"Four days." She continued nodding, a habit that he guessed she was using to stall while she processed the information. "During which," he added, "some guy tried to kill you with a scalpel but I fought him off with a suture needle." Her nodding stopped abruptly, but she made no other indication that she'd heard him. "Beckett?"

"Are you being serious or recounting the latest episode of _Private Practice_?" she asked, her voice a bit breathy.

"The first one," he said. "That's why all the security."

"Okay," she said slowly, in a way that said she was most definitely not okay. "Okay. Okay." He could see the zigzag green line on her heart monitor going crazy.

"Kate," he said, patting her arm in a desperate attempt to calm her down. "You're safe now, alright?"

"I know," she said, nodding as she tried to relax. "Safe. Right." He rubbed her arm until her heart rate went back to normal. He was a little surprised at first- Kate Beckett wasn't the kind of person to freak out so much, even after an attempt to assassinate her. He factored in the fact that it had been two consecutive attempts to assassinate her and decided her reaction was very normal.

Beckett shook her head like she was shaking away all the fear, and then she looked much more like her old self again. She glanced up at Castle as if she were going to say something to him, and then froze. Her eyes darted back and forth between his.

"What is it?" he asked, noticing the change.

"I don't know…" she said slowly. "Did we go somewhere recently together?"

"LA," he shrugged. "Shared a limo to Montgomery's funeral." He wondered, as he had when he mentioned the eulogy, if Beckett was about to remember her mentor's death all over again. She didn't though- evidently a four day coma was not enough to fog the memories out of her head, even temporarily.

"No," she muttered. She looked frustrated, like she was struggling to remember something. "I think I had a dream about you."

"Oh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. She smacked him playfully.

"Not a sex dream," she said. "Just a dream. I think it was a nice one." She relaxed against the pillows, glancing down to see that his arm was still on hers. "I wish I could remember it."

"Well, it doesn't matter now," he said. "You're back now. You're home." There he went with the home thing again, she thought. It had seemed strange at first, but now she was beginning to make sense of it. Castle was home. She smiled, thinking of the saying "A man's home is his castle." Her home was Castle. "Listen, Kate," he said. Her stomach tightened up- experience had taught her to be apprehensive when he began a sentence like that. "Before Crazy Scalpel Guy comes back, there's something I need to tell you- something I've told you before- many, many times- but you never heard me." She was holding her breath. "I love you, Kate."

"Oh," she exhaled after a long moment of silence. "Well." She opened her mouth, prepared to stutter and ramble, but instead said "I love you, too." More silence. "But… but I'm not really sure what to about that, not yet."

"That's okay," he said quickly, trying to keep a wide grin off of his face. "Just so long as I know."

"Alright," she said, swallowing when she realized how dry her throat was. An awful thought struck her. "You _meant _that right? I mean, you weren't just joshing with- Oh, God, Josh!" Castle watched her as she started to freak out a little, not really sure how to proceed. "Can you send him back in here?" she asked.

"Yeah." Castle wondered as he walked to the door if the end result of a declaration of love should be her asking to see another man. "Josh," said Castle, stepping out of the hospital room. "She wants to talk to you."

"Yeah, okay," said Josh, coming forward to enter the room. He stopped before he reached the door and turned to Castle. "Listen, I know we're not technically friends, but if you knew… you'd tell me… when she says 'talk'-"

"Capital T," said Castle. "The bad kind."

"Thanks," said Josh, mentally preparing himself. He walked into the room.

Kate looked vulnerable all hooked up to machines and wrapped in the white hospital sheets, an extreme rarity when it came to her. Josh resisted the urge to pull her into his arms and took his chair beside her. "Hey," he said, as though they hadn't been speaking to each other just minutes ago.

"Hey." She said it like an apology.

"You love him," he said, getting right to the point. She nodded slowly.

"You act like this is so easy for you to take," she sighed. "This whole thing. For months, I've been pushing you away, and I didn't _mean _to, it just happened, and you never left. You just let me do it, you put up with me the whole time." Her voice was reaching hysteria. "I put you through all that, and now I… I just…" Tears sparked in her eyes at the thought of breaking his heart after everything he'd gone through for her.

Josh realized this and, to make it easier for her, he decided to turn the break-up around. "You're right," he said. "You put me through so much, and I didn't deserve it. I deserve better." She nodded, agreeing with him when he didn't even agree with himself. "I'm not going to stand for this any longer. So, in the words of Sam Cooke," he said, standing up, "that's it, I quit, I'm moving on." He walked to the door. "Goodbye, Kate."

"Thanks," she murmured, recognizing what he was doing.

"Any time," he said with a smile, and then walked out of her life.

"You okay?" asked Castle, coming into the room the moment Josh was gone.

"I think so," she said as he sat beside her bed. "Went a lot easier than I thought it would."

"That's good," he said, but his mind was approximately several minutes in the past, reliving the moment when she'd told him that she loved him back. And now Josh was out of the picture. "Kate-" he started, but then a very excited Medical Examiner burst into the room and attack-hugged Kate.

"You're okay?" ascertained Lanie. "You're really awake?"

"Yes, I'm fine," laughed Beckett, hugging her back. "Wide awake." She glanced at Castle over her best friend's shoulder and shot him a look that clearly said "_Really? We're still getting interrupted?"_

Always, thought Castle, staring down at her. Always.

**_THE END_**


	8. Author's Note

"The Princess Cop" is a finalist for a Castle fan award! If you liked the story, please vote for it! http: / / castlefans . org / fanfic - best - humour / 270

Also, I now have a twitter. You can follow me at http : / / twitter . com / # ! / Duck_Life22

(take spaces out of both links)


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